


WANTED: to BORROW an orange cat

by danceinmystorm



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben is a cat dad, F/M, Rey is a Single Mom, Twitter Prompt, just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27918967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceinmystorm/pseuds/danceinmystorm
Summary: Ben lived a simple, solitary life.Until he adopted a lazy, fat, orange cat at a local adoption fair.orBen sees a sign from a single mom asking for a Garfield-like cat to come to have dinner with her and her kids.Inspired bythisprompt on Twitter.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 95
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	WANTED: to BORROW an orange cat

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](https://twitter.com/ReadsVictoria/status/1335327903593103360) prompt on Twitter by @ReadsVictoria and retweeted by @reylo_prompts.
> 
> I finally made a non-personal twitter to follow all of the Reylo fics on Twitter. Follow [me](https://twitter.com/danceinmystorm_) if you'd like!

💛💛💛

Ben Solo lived a simple life now. After quitting an architectural firm that sucked the soul out of his body and kept him away from his family for many years, he decided to quit, make amends with his family, move back to his childhood town, and work for his uncle at the family architectural firm.

He traded his past two-story apartment in the city for a small, but cozy, apartment with exposed bricks and big windows on two sides. He made a custom bookshelf that became a home for his extensive collection that included ones he’s bought in his life as well as the ones from his grandmothers, Padme’s recipe books and Breha’s political ones. He started taking up cooking and baking, perfecting his grandmother’s recipes. He watched political documentaries that he thought his grandma would enjoy.

Ben lived a simple, solitary life.

Until he adopted a lazy, fat, orange cat at a local adoption fair.

The cat, already named Hux, was said to be completely uninterested in everyone that came to look at him in his little pen. His head barely popped up at the squealing kids and the pointing adults looking for an addition to their home.

Until Ben, who was just walking by with a reusable grocery bag filled with ingredients for his pasta, was curious and stopped to look at the round, fluffy thing. Hux had looked up and looked straight at him. The two had a staring contest until one of the volunteers, a cheerful girl named Kaydel, popped up beside the human and told him that Hux had been pretending to be dead the entire time they’d been there. He’d only stopped pretending when Ben came by.

Ben laughed and asked Kaydel about the adoption process. Later that week, Ben had a pile of new cat things in his home and was on his way to bring Hux home.

On the way home, Hux had squirmed out of Ben’s arms and opted to walk next to him. Ben was worried that Hux would run off since he wasn’t leashed or anything (Ben had to do a quick Google search about cats being on leashes) but he noticed that Hux waited beside him while he paused at a street corner. Only when he moved did the cat move too.

Ben stopped at a pet store to buy a leash anyways, just to be safe.

So, in his normally solitary life, Ben Solo had a cat. A cat that slept most of the day, only got up for his meals and to use the litter box that Ben put in the laundry room. Sometimes Hux would jump up on the couch to lay next to him while he watched documentaries. Or he would jump onto one of the stools to watch Ben cook in the kitchen while a podcast played in the background. Hux didn’t sit in his lap or ask for scratches. He wasn’t very clingy, and Ben was okay with it.

Ben felt a little less alone with his new friend.

One day, on a particularly strange day when Hux was being especially bad and tearing up the living room rug and one of the armchairs, Ben decided to take Hux on a long walk. It wasn’t unusual for Hux to join Ben on a walk, it was normally a short walk to the mailbox, but Ben figured that Hux must be stir crazy and opted to try and tire him out.

So, Ben and Hux (who was leashed, Ben couldn’t trust the cat while he was restless) took a walk around the block. Hux seemed to enjoy it, smelling at anything and everything they walked by, and Ben was relieved that his cat seemed back to normal. He was afraid that Hux was acting out because he didn’t like living with Ben anymore. Ben knew it was a dumb fear, it was just a _cat_ , but he’d gotten used to the companionship.

As Ben and Hux rounded the corner to go back to the apartment building, Ben noticed a brightly colored sign on a light pole. While Hux busied himself with smelling a nearby bush, Ben read the sign:

**WANTED:**

**To BORROW an orange cat**

**Wanted: to BORROW an orange cat for an evening, possibly overnight, to have a lasagna dinner with Garfield-loving 4-year-old and 2-year-old children.**

**Will return cat happy and cared for. Cat will not be required to eat lasagna but will be given a nice Fancy Feast, if allowed.**

**Please. No feral cats. And please take your cat back at the end. Not looking to adopt.**

**Thank you,**

**An increasingly desperate (but not crazy) mom-of-two with no friends that own orange cats.**

**Email me at[rey@niimastudios.com](mailto:rey@niimastudios.com).**

Ben glanced over at Hux who was intently staring up at him as if he were being patient and waiting for Ben to finish his business and start walking home. He realized then that Hux did have a Garfield look to him, and certainly acted as sassy as the comic cat. Hux also enjoyed human food, smelling not eating, especially when he made Grandma Padme’s spaghetti.

Looking back at the sign, he felt a little stirring in his chest. He should do this. Something to help a mom out who just wanted to make her kids happy. What could go wrong?

💛💛💛

It turned out that a lot could go wrong.

Ben coordinated an evening with Rey Niima over email. Once he passed over a picture of Hux with an iPad showing that day’s newspaper, Rey started telling him little details about her children’s love for cats, but especially Garfield, and how they would pretend that Garfield was at the dinner table with them. Maz, her four-year-old, was soon to be turning five and Rey was unable to host a party for her. She thought that bringing a cat over for dinner would make up for it.

So, Ben took Hux over to Rey’s house on a Friday evening. There, Maz and Charlie, the two-year-old boy, immediately took Hux and sat him in a booster seat at one end of the small dinner table. Ben was nervous about how Hux would act around the children since he wasn’t normally the touchy-feely type, especially being handled a bit firmly, but Hux merely sat down where he was placed.

Ben greeted Rey and told her that he’d be back in the morning, or whenever she texted him to pick up Hux, but Rey asked him to stay and keep her company while the kids held their dinner party. They ended up sitting in the kitchen and chatting until the kids deemed their dinner party over and asked if Hux could sleep in their room for the night.

Ben, having had a few glasses of wine to drink, agreed and slept on the living room couch with an old blanket.

The next morning, Ben and Hux went home after a long goodbye and lots of hugs and kisses from the Niima kids. Rey thanked Ben sincerely, telling him that he’d given Maz and Charlie the best experience by bringing Hux over. She would be indebted to him. He passed it off as a nice thing to do but Rey promised she would make it up to him somehow.

Ben felt embarrassed for being around Rey, who smiled at him unlike anyone has anyone has ever smiled at him, with his mussed-up clothes and bed head.

Everything turned out alright that night. But things started to go wrong.

One evening, when Ben was returning home from work, he noticed that his front door was slightly ajar. Panicking, he started calling for Hux and looking around at any of the spaces he could be hiding. He wasn’t hiding under any furniture, didn’t get himself stuck in any cabinet.

Hux escaped the apartment.

Ben began to wonder how to go about looking for the damn cat when he got a call. He almost answered without looking to tell whoever it was that he was dealing with an emergency when he noticed it was Rey calling him,

_Rey._

“I think we have something of yours at our house,” Rey told him when he answered.

Ben ran to Rey’s house immediately to find that Hux sitting at the Niima dinner table while the kids worked on their homework. Rey nudged him with her shoulder, joking that Hux must’ve really missed the kids to come wandering here on his own. Ben only laughed slightly, still coming down from his rapid beating heart. He and Hux stayed over for dinner and insisted that they go home since it was a school night for the kids.

Ben apologized to Rey for the inconvenience of his cat showing up at her doorstep.

Rey told him it was no problem, that Hux was welcome anytime. The coy look on her face inferred that not only Hux would be welcome. But Ben decided that it must’ve been his wishful thinking and decided that he’d try to forget and make sure Hux doesn’t escape again.

But Hux did escape.

At least once a week.

For two months.

Hux would escape, Rey would text him to let him know that Hux was at their house, Ben would come to pick him up but inevitably stay for dinner, and then go home with a pleased Hux on a leash.

After the sixth time, when Rey opened the door for him again, he couldn’t help but apologize profusely once again.

“Rey, I swear, I have no idea how he’s escaping my apartment. I keep the door locked at all times. I never open the windows. He must be feeling really lonely at home while I’m at work, but I don’t know why he keeps coming here, I’m so sorry—”

Over the threshold, Rey leaned over to place a kiss to his lips, silencing him immediately. She pulled back, grabbed his hand, and brought him inside.

“I don’t mind,” Rey tells him, kissing his cheek this time. “It keeps bringing you over.”

“I…you wanted me to come over?” Ben was in disbelief.

“I wanted to ask you out after the first night but…you didn’t seem interested. I mean, why would you be? I’m a single mom with two kids,” Rey told him sheepishly. “When Hux kept coming over, I thought it was just some sort of coincidence. Cats can be strange like that but I realized that this was the only way I could get you to keep coming here. So, I put out a can of food for him and a little box on the porch so he could use it while he was here. I guess he kept scenting it and coming back.”

A little meow and some giggling entered the room as Maz and Charlie, with Hux standing between them, looked at the two adults. Rey knelt down as Hux walked over to her immediately, pressing his face against her outstretched hand, asking for scratches. Ben knelt down beside her and Hux jumped into his lap. The kids crowded around them; Maz coming up behind Rey, Charlie climbing onto Ben’s back. The kids giggled and cooed at Hux, who obviously was basking in the attention.

“Ben,” Maz said in her little voice. “Can Hux stay the night?”

Looking over at Rey, Ben smiled. “Yes. He can stay the night. And every night, if you want him to. Is that okay, Rey?”

Rey grabbed Ben’s face with her two hands and pulled him in for a soft kiss. Ben relished in the softness of her lips, the sweet giggling around them, and the purring of his troublemaker cat in his arms. When Rey pulled away, Ben couldn’t help but bring her closer, as well as tugging the two kids into their hug.

“As long as you’re part of the package,” Rey finally said, sighing into his arms. “You two can stay forever.”

Ben looked down to his lap to see Hux had fallen asleep in his lap. In the past few months he’s had Hux, he’d never laid in his lap. Maz and Charlie were awing at the sight, gently petting the cat’s back. He turned to Rey again and kissed her forehead.

“Forever, then.”


End file.
